Since the ascension of the Lord Jesus, He has been working through His body, the church, by the Holy Spirit. This is the new creation that greatly transcends the original creation. In the beginning, God walked with man, but now He comes to dwell in man. This is the greatest of all benefits of the New Covenant, and as Paul wrote in II Corinthians 3, it is better than what Moses had even though he had to put a veil over his face because of the glory. As Paul later wrote in Colossians 1:25-27:
 

          For the last two weeks we’ve touched on restoration. This is the main thing God is doing in this age. It incorporates redemption, reconciliation, and in some cases, restitution. We cannot be in unity with God without being united with His purpose in this.

        As we have covered before, a basic statement of what we’re called to as the body of Christ is found in I Corinthians 1:4-7: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift….”

         The American Founding Fathers believed that tyranny could come from either the government or from the people. Because of this, they built a brilliant system of government that had firewalls to protect against the tyranny from either direction. They warned that if these firewalls were torn down, the Republic could not last. In the last century, we tore both firewalls down, and the system has been crumbling since.

The United States Army has a doctrine that has been called "The Three Critical Questions," which should be asked in any situation that requires action, and certainly in this present crisis. These questions are:

1) What is happening?
2) What is not happening?
3) What can we do about it?

Though some of the principles I am about to address can be applied on a wider basis, I am directing them to Christians as a spiritual perspective in relation to how the church should respond to them.

          The sure word of prophecy reveals that we are heading fast toward the ultimate battle between light and darkness. It is the highest privilege and honor just to live in these times, but we have a much higher purpose than to just endure the times—we are here to participate in the greatest victory since the cross—the ultimate victory of light over darkness.

           We see this in such places as Isaiah 60:1-3:

   Since this is the first Word for the Week of 2011, and we are studying how to know God’s voice and the prophetic gifts that He has given to His church, I want to begin by sharing what may be one of the most prolific messages God’s people have been receiving. The question I may be asked more than any other is what 11-11 means. Whether seeing it repeatedly on their clocks or in other ways, many people have been receiving this for years. New Year’s Day was 1/1/11 or 11-11.

     We discussed how difficult it is to communicate and how culture affects this, so we must have the Spirit of God and be a part of His culture, the kingdom, to really understand His communication to us. This includes both prophetic revelation and His written Word. If we have the spirit of the world and try to read God’s Word, we will not understand it the way it was intended. This is a primary reason there can be so many different interpretations of the Scriptures. We must become one with the Author to understand it as intended.